The “50 dirtiest power plants” generated nearly 33% of the U.S. power sector’s carbon dioxide emissions in 2011, but only about 16% of its electricity. Globally, they emit more than 2% of all energy-based carbon dioxide pollution, ranking them #7—between Germany and South Korea—if they were a country.

Power plants are the largest source of greenhouse gases in the U.S., responsible for 41% of the nation’s carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution, according to the report. There are 6,000 oil, coal, nuclear, natural gas, wind, and solar electric-generating facilities in the U.S.

Of the 100 worst-polluting plants in the U.S., 98 of them are coal plants.

Power Plant Scherer (pdf) in Juliette, Georgia, was determined to be the top CO2-emitting U.S. plant, producing more than 21 million metric tons of carbon dioxide in 2011.

The report’s publishing is timely, given that the Obama administration is working on the nation’s first-ever greenhouse gas emissions regulations for power plants. The new rules could be unveiled later this month, the Christian Science Monitor reported.